This boy, I tell ya. He is having the time of his life serving the Lord in Germany. When he is on his personal time, he loves to do fun things like go to game stores and get new treasures! This week, he was able to go to Spielzeit, which means 'game time,' to get a new set of Magic the Gathering cards. He picked up Ghost Vikings! Oooo!!! He was all sparkly and smiley, showing us his latest treat. Mmmm. Fresh card smell. ;) He also enjoys playing the piano and guitar whenever he gets a chance and he just acquired all of the songs from the Kiera Knightly version of Pride and Prejudice. I love that music!
Another love is cooking. He has always loved cooking and baking things, and that skill has blessed his life on his mission. He has also been blessed with companions who ALSO like cooking! Elder Tillett cooked well. He would say, "No. I'm cooking." and would cook for the companionship. Elder's Chamberlain and Jones wouldn't let Elder Heilmann cook, either, as they liked to do all the cooking. Elder Heilmann said that Elder Wright let him cook and that Elder Lahman "just doesn't think about food." So, he is finally cooking again, which he loves.
Elder Heilmann is enjoying German food adventures and has started experimenting with cheese. He recently bought a bunch of French cheese and ventured out to try Limburger cheese. He said it's not that bad! It has a gelatin consistency, tastes like mild cheese, but smells horrible! Something like sewage...but it tastes nice! Gross! He bought some blue cheese, but it was not what he expected. He said it tastes like camembert that has started to mold, and they were like, "Oh! Sell it as blue cheese!" It just wasn't as sharp-blue as he was expecting. He has three wheels of camembert and a nice imported British cheddar. He also started putting Nutella on his brie. He said the brie is a "shwacher kase," a weak cheese, and it's perfect together.
When he doesn't have much time to cook, he purchases some canned goods to try. He makes some spaetzle, like funny-looking noodles, and tops it with the canned goulash. He also likes to make ramen without the broth and adds an egg and fresh leeks.
I was happy to find out that Elder Heilmann got the keychain I bought on the German Amazon for Valentine's Day. If you recall, I ordered a customizable key chain and had the phrase "mutter kuss" engraved on it. It says "Mothers Kiss," and he said he put it against his face, giving him all the happy feelings. YAY! I was just so glad it didn't come across as creepy. I used Google Translate so many times to try many different combinations to get it right. Phew! Glad it was.
Speaking of translation issues, Elder Heilmann has been trying to teach his companion the German language! He was called as a Ukrainian missionary and knows Russian but not German. What a challenge! But, when it's all said and done, his companion will be trilingual, which is pretty impressive.
Have you heard this joke? "If you can speak three languages, you're trilingual. If you can speak two, you're bilingual. If you can speak one, you're American." Oh, dear!!! Unfortunately, this seems to be pretty accurate. Kind of embarrassing, really! When Elder Heilmann's Uncle Dan was interviewing for medical school, they saw that he was a returned LDS Missionary and asked, "Oh, what other languages do you speak?" "Juuuust English!" He went on his mission to Kansas. He didn't learn another language. But I guess LDS returned missionaries have a bit of a reputation.
Papa, Elder Heilmann's Grandpa, and my Daddy sent us a What's App video today of him fishing in the Straits of Johor. Our immediate family is EVERYWHERE, but unfortunately, we all just speak English. Elder Heilmann and the in-laws are the exceptions...(picks up the phone to do Duolingo)
Missionary Work
"I am enjoying Germany. I am seeing myself become a better person, but I want to see someone read the Book of Mormon or someone get baptized." He said he continues to read the story of Abinidi and Samuel the Lamanite and is inspired by them to keep going despite not seeing those miraculous changes. He said, "I have not been burned or shot at. I have been spit at because I was so happy!" Someone came up to him and said, "What's your problem. Why are you so happy?" *spit* Yet he perseveres.
The District decided to work on a 3 door approach. The first door is to read the Book of Mormon. The second door is identifying those who REALLY want the Gospel to be a part of their lives. The third door is baptism. Elder Heilmann and the other missionaries find that the people love the missionaries and want to be around them, but changing their lives and going to church every Sunday is just not something they are totally committed to doing. So, Krefeld ends up being a place where they do a lot of service and not a lot of teaching Gospel lessons. But ministering in the Saviors way is an important and fantastic way to spend your day.
Serving lends itself to witnessing countless miracles. Live ARE being changed. They recently got back in contact with a gentleman who texted them in the past. The original text said, "Hello, I am looking for a religion where I can grow my faith and find the true gospel." The Elder's thought, "Well then! We can help with that." Unfortunately, the gentleman didn't text back, so they started calling him instead. He said he was still interested, so the Elder's couldn't understand the lack of communication. The Elders are sure it's a cultural problem as they run into that time and again. They have an opportunity to teach a traditional lesson to a man named Bahi soon. They are also teaching a member in Tanzania, English over the phone. "Thank you! Thank you my brothah's for teaching me the English!" They are grateful for all the experiences and hopeful for more!
Michael asked for a blessing which was amazing. A few days later, he talked about it again. He said that he felt really good for a couple of days afterward. Unfortunately, he is still caught up in his problems and is fearful of the inevitable change. But Elder Heilmann declared that even though Michael has not accepted the Gospel, at least they have been able to help him on the path to improving his life. He has definitely changed a lot, and that is wonderful to witness.
In the meantime, the Elders went through their area book and called every single contact. Then they called all their phone contacts. After that, they contacted every member of the Ward that they hadn't met yet. If they want to visit an inactive member, they need to have the Bishop or a member of the Stake Council come with them. On March 3rd, a member of the Stake Presidency will pick them up and drive them all over to visit as many inactive members as possible. They are definitely keeping themselves busy in well-doing.
Quirky Germany
- Two storms are coming. 100-180kph winds. Zednar and Alana. They are not hurricanes, but they will have hurricane-force winds. They have been told just to stay inside. They had to cancel the District Pday events. The Moenchengladbach Elders live only 20 min away and still wanted to come, but the Wasel Elders are more like 2 hours away, and the train is unreliable in storms. The rules are that all three companionships can be together, or they all have to stay put. On Sunday, they had a "fun" walk to the Church as they had to lean against the wind..."but it's fine," he says. ;)
- Many roofs have shingles that are hooked in, so in the wind, you can hear the shingles rattle.
- The best thing about Krefeld is the Ward and the apartment. The apartment is permanently stuck in the 80s, and it's so old and worn out that it's hard to make it look clean. But it is so quirky and cool!
- They take a street train like a San Francisco streetcar to get downtown. It's called a strasenbahn.
- haselnuss = hazelnut, walnuss = walnut, pekannuss = pecans, but mandel = almond. Sorry, almond. You are not cool enough for the "nuss" club.
- When asked to share a funny thing about Germany, he chucked and exclaimed, "When I get back to the US, I'm gonna get hit by a car!!!" In Germany, you can just walk across the street anywhere and at any point, and cars will just stop! No crosswalks and pedestrians have all the rights. So in about a year, watch out for my little German Missionary as he takes on the life of an American pedestrian once again.
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